Tag Archives: enterprise2.0

The kind people organising the Enterprise 2.0 conference have released one FULL PLATINUM PASS (worth $2,195.00) and one $100 OFF DISCOUNT (or a free Demo Pavilion pass- unlimited) code for me to give away.

I’m not attending the conference this year (boo hoo) as I just can’t free up the time at the moment.However, Simon Revell will be there speaking about the work we did at Pfizer and of course the Meet Charlie franchise.It looks like it will be even better than last year with more case studies and more analysis around exactly what is happening in the E2.0 world.Air fares and accommodation in Boston are quite reasonable at the moment so it’s a great time to go.

If you’d like either of the tickets (for you or a friend) please leave a comment answering the following question:

Q: What event am I organising with Dion Hinchcliffe on the 30th September in London?

The first person to answer correctly gets the FULLPLATINUMPASS, and the next gets the $100 OFF DISCOUNT.

Louvain La Neuve, 35 minutes south of Brussels hadn’t featured on my Enterprise 2.0 radar. However, nestled away on a brand new science park, a stone’s throw from the bustling university town is start-up Whatever, and their product Knowledge Plaza.

I spent two days at their San Francisco style offices meeting the team, looking at the product and evaluating their R&D pipeline.

Knowledge Plaza is a Web 2.0 knowledge management environment that mixes the power of a del.icio.us type tool with documents, workspaces, contacts, emails, tagging and some very innovative search and representation.

The team is a great combination of personalities including a star from the open source world, a serial entrepreneur, lots of young talent and……an ex CEO of Apple in Europe.

By the way, if you need reminding of who I am in the picture, then I’m the handsome one, front and center, wearing his iPhone on his belt even though he knows it is soooo wrong! 🙂

About a year and a half ago Simon and I launched an Enterprise 2.0 effort at a global healthcare company.We started off with grand visions of doing it all online and not printing a single flyer or advert.We were saving the planet at the same time you see.The plan was to use viral marketing techniques and distribute content via the existing intranet and email system.This included edgy graphics, wallpapers, podcasts, videocasts, invites to events, launching an enterprise 2.0 related site and blog and anything else we could think of.

However we soon realised we were missing a massive chunk of the workforce.Large swathes of people in many companies interact with technology only when they need to, and when they do they stick to what they know (in this case email and a few internal news sites served up in IE).

We just had to go offline.So here are some of the things we produced:

Business cards (similar to above) with teaser info on the front and more detailed info on the reverse.We handed these out wherever and whenever possible.People liked them and we still see them on desks, shelves and wedged in keyboards today

Neschens were printed and put on display in high traffic areas (as in photo).The neschens detailed Enterprise 2.0 events and pointed to online resources

Posters – quick and easy, although these ones were quite edgy.Different to most posters you see in large companies.i.e. not “Climb the highest peak of success” with a picture of a mountain….yuk!

Handouts – these were more like quick tips on the tools

Speakers – we managed to secure some great speakers to inspire people with the possibilities of web2.0 in the workplace

On Wednesday 24th October 2007 I spent an hour or so talking to folks from Comptia at their annual EEC Meeting. At the end of the presentation I promised to post some additional links and resources on my blog – which you will find at the bottom.

I was slightly nervous about speaking to this crowd especially after watching Andrew Africa of MaintenenceNet deliver a fairly in depth session on web services to what transpired to be quite a technical audience. However as soon as I flashed up the first slide and saw the smile on peoples faces I knew I was in for an energetic and fun session. In reality it became more of a conversation with the audience than standard presentation delivery. I covered Meet Charlie, described Enterprise 2.0 in action, covered some case studies, spoke about why you ‘should care’ about this new era and also discussed some of the challenges and barriers. I really enjoyed presenting to these guys.

A conversational follow up to Meet Charlie – What is Enterprise 2.0? This slide show is being used to engage commercial sales departments in dialogue around the use of Enterprise 2.0 tools and data on the road.

I needed a conversational piece to strike up ideas and conversations with commercial sales folk. With the roll out of hybrid PDA/Mobile devices, and the success of the iPhone and associated optimized web applications, I want to explore what’s around the corner for the Enterprise 2.0 powered road warrior.

Although only his second, this could be Charlie’s last official appearance as Mr Enterprise 2.0, but we’ll have to see.

Here’s a good (albeit long) post from Andrew McAfee – the guy who allegedly coined the term Enterprise 2.0. I say allegedly as I recently met someone, who knows someone, who lays his own claim to inventing the term. Anyway, McAfee talks about a trip one of the world’s largest technology companies (IBM/Microsoft/SAP??) where he had the opportunity to learn about their blogsphere.

He says:

On the page that listed the most recent blog posts I saw a title something like “Why Our Recently Announced Strategy is Misguided” I was a little surprised by this, and asked the team if this level of feistiness was rare, and if the people who wrote such posts found themselves in hot water. They assured me that the answer to both questions was no.

This is a key point for me. I don’t think many large companies are at a point where a post like “Why Our Recently Announced Strategy is Misguided” would be embraced. In fact I think it would make people feel a little uncomfortable, as it’s not the norm to go around saying exactly what’s on your mind (is it?). I’m not saying this is a bad thing, rather that many companies have a way to go with the culture and expectations of what a thriving blogsphere brings to the table. Some companies I know are at the point where such posts would be embraced, whereas others are trying to find their feet with how to cope with this sort of feedback. The point is, feedback is good. It’s just the getting used to hearing and responding to it publicly.

McAfee went on to say:

It struck me that I was looking at an excellent tool for gathering informed feedback on topics of interest. And there seemed to be a lot of cross-talk among blogs; employees were leaving comments for each other, posting in response to previous posts, etc. I try not to be a wide-eyed techno optimist, or to say “everything’s different now!” each time I see a new technology, but I do think this internal blogosphere was something new under the sun. I don’t see how a company, especially a large and geographically dispersed one, could hold an ongoing, public, open-to-all conversation about important topics without E2.0 tools.

News has already been broken by Simon, Susan and Niall, but here I am to say it’s official – the CorporatePunk and I will be speaking (and more!) at the Office 2.0 conference in San Francisco, 5-7 Sept.

It’s billed as one the dates, if not the date, for the Enterprise 2.0 community and I have to say I’m really looking forward to being there.

Most of you are probably familiar with the DIGWWW story of how a group of passionate users are embracing and leading the way in Web 2.0 adoption behind the firewall at a global drugs giant. We will talk about the highs, the lows, the challenges, what we are doing now and how similar groups can find their voice at ANY company.

I’ll also cover the amazing story of how and why I produced Meet Charlie, what the reaction has been, what it’s meant to me and what the future holds for the web 2.0 powered super hero himself.

Also, keep an eye out for a very exciting announcement and offer for a yet to be selected company in SF.

Thanks to Ismael and Susan for the invites, the hype and making it possible.

Oh – and here’s a public apology to my wife and kids for canceling the family holiday to attend the conference. Sorry! 🙂

Lately I’ve been discussing the visual elements of web 2.0 and how they map to my expectations for enterprise 2.0 applications.

Personally I’m more inclined to use a tool which is visually appealing/inspiring. Look around at the top web 2.0 sites, they are all pleasing to the eye. Whether they go full out for maximum design, or keep things simple, all the sites/services I use look neat. Is that a shallow requirement for personal adoption?

The current set of enterprise applications I use mostly depress me. They might do great things, but I hate the interface. I know I’m not alone in this view, but I also know lots of people who would disagree with me. For example the other day someone asked why on earth anyone would want to customize how their internal blog looked. Well, maybe they want to feel inspired, assert their individuality, be different or maybe they just like pretty colors….? I don’t know, but some people prefer to use stuff that looks cool. Whereas some people will live with a boring interface in favor of masses of functionality.

This got me thinking, would a simple interface overhaul be enough to satisfy me when using current enterprise applications? Nope, because the navigation also depresses me in it’s complexity due to there being too many functions available. So what to do? It feels like what I really want is neat looking tools, with limited but appropriate and powerful functionality. Just like BaseCamp. In fact Simon suggested we ask the BaseCamp crew to look at a classic enterprise application for them to give their recommendations on what they would do if tasked with making it ‘2.0’.

So is this what we will start seeing? Or are we already seeing it? Enterprise grade applications that play nicely with others, offer great but limited functionality and are intuitive to the point of fool proof.

So where does that leave the functionality left out or stripped away from the original enterprise version? Maybe there was never the need for it in the first place, or maybe it just gets rolled into another best in class application….certainly something to think about.

The first thing that struck me was just how good Webex is.I haven’t used Webex in a while, and they really have it nailed.It was a faultless technical experience with multiple presenters, slides, audio, Q&A and feedback.I really will have to switch back to recommending Webex.

I don’t attend many webinars, but I really wanted to hear Dion speak on the subject, and I wasn’t disappointed.Whilst the subject matter was entry level, probably aimed at IT mangers as more of a briefing, Dion stood out with his depth of knowledge and quick turn around on the Q&A.

I should be receiving the slide decks shortly, however here are my personal highlights.

G. Oliver Young covered/highlited:

An example of crowd sourcing suitable internal RSS feeds at a law firm

The SalesForce People Map – something I must check out

Hurdles for the adoption of Web 2.0 within the enterprise (security and compliance)

I posted the following question to the panel at the end of the webinar: “What are your views/experiences with SharePoint and is SharePoint the answer to Enterprise 2.0 for global blue chips?”Whilst the question was not specifically addressed they did say the open source alternatives offer very good cross integration and Microsoft do not have all the answers. I was happy with that.

Ok, so there is a theme here, and yes I am slightly addicted to Slideshare. Here is Simon Revell’s slideshow telling the story of how he sparked an enterprise 2.0 movement within his company. I love the story telling aspect and comic book style.

…well sort of. This is the presentation I’ve pulled together to highlight the work of an unofficial group who explore and push web2.0/enterprise2.0 technology and culture at a global blue chip company. We started the group in July 2006 and have enjoyed a great deal of success (and enjoyment) in the year that followed. I’ve removed any references which identify the company, so sorry if some bits seem vague.

I’m just finishing off a presentation about the past 12 months of work by a special interest group whom discuss the WWW. The unofficial group was formed at a large multinational, with the purpose of discussing web technology and culture with a slant on how it may apply to the company. This was on top of our day jobs.

A few months in we realized there was a term for this, Enterprise 2.0. We had already identified a few social software implementations within the company, albeit a little rouge and unofficial, and were evangelizing their use and impact. A few of us decided there was enough interest in web2.0/enterprise2.0 at the grass roots level to hold an event on the subject.

We pulled together an agenda which covered a week’s worth of unconference style events (mostly at lunch times), and even found a sponsor to pay for a couple of speakers. We podcast every meeting, keynote and presentation and made them available on an instance of Drupal, where we also convinced some thought leaders to blog for the week. We soon had a global audience and were in danger of creating a demand for ‘enterprise 2.0’ which at the time could not be met (at least not officially).

It’s a great story and as I pull together the presentation I’m starting to realize what an impact a small, unofficial interest group is having within such a large company.

Just over a month ago Charlie embarked on his crusade to bring Enterprise 2.0 awareness to the masses. Checking today you will see the views on slideshare.net have crept past the 6,000 mark. I don’t know if this includes views of the embedded version, but in any case the response has been staggering.

So why am I mentioning this again? Well I just saw this post by Caroline Gagnon of NSI Solutions in Quebec, Canada. Caroline translated ‘Meet Charlie’ to French and was today commenting on how her version has already attracted 750 views and a lot of incoming links etc.

So I’ve been pondering how to build on this. I think there is scope to drill down on specific scenario’s and examples of Enterprise 2.0. Now we have a semi-official ambassador in Charlie, I will continue to use him in future presentations.

I also want to put together a YouTube version but I don’t think the static content carries over well to video. So I’m looking to re-hash it a bit for video with some narrative and real animation. I may need help with this but watch this space……

I just want to say a big thanks to everyone who has been in touch regarding the ‘Meet Charlie – What is Enterprise2.0?’ presentation. Within a week of producing the slide deck and uploading it to SlideShare.net I’ve had almost 1500 views and a whole bunch of emails from folk around the world.

So from producing a visually attractive and content rich set of slides, uploading them to a web2.0 service and sending the link out to a few people I have been:

contacted by CEO’s and IT managers to say they loved the slides, and now really get Enterprise 2.0.

contacted by numerous people from many countries just to say hi or to ask if they can use the slides

asked to give the presentation again at the company I work for

linked to by a number of blogs and sites

So this really demonstrates the power of web2.0, the opportunities it can present and the contacts it can create. What it also does is provide a glimpse into the potential of Enterprise2.0. So imagine your company has an equivalent of SlideShare installed within the firewall where everyone shares their slide decks within the organisation. If you were to post an equivalent of the ‘Meet Charlie’ presentation, and it were to be as popular, were to be linked to from employee and director blogs, were to be discussed at meetings, were to be sent round via email/messenger…..you’d be creating some pretty serious contacts and opportunities! Not to mention raising your profile, getting your message heard, presenting you ideas or passion to the whole company…………..This is what really excites me about Enterprise2.0…it’s fairly untapped, yet to be adopted by the masses, but bubbling with opportunity for better communication, collaboration and innovation!

Meet Charlie – What is Enterprise2.0? is the presentation I created for my talk to the British Computer Society on the 25th April 2007. It’s a generic look at what web2.0 looks like in the corporate environment. Even if you’re new to all this stuff it’s a quick, fun and visually entertaining intro to Enterprise2.0:

I presented to the Kent Branch of the BCS at Canterbury Christchurch University last night with Simon Revell. The talk was titled ‘Web2.0 in the Enterprise – Experiences and Opportunities’. Here is the Kent BCS ad and here isÂ my presentation.

I presented at Wiki Wednesday last week. The event was good and was at Microsoft’s HQ in Soho. I gave the presentation at the bottom of an emptied out swimming pool which was a bit surreal! Here’s a write up which appeared on Technorati and here is the actual presentation.

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